Pacific Motorway (Brisbane–Brunswick Heads)

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Pacific Motorway (Brisbane–Brunswick Heads) is a major eight-lane highway that runs from Brisbane in Queensland to Brunswick Heads in New South Wales, crossing the border at Tweed Heads. It starts at Coronation Drive in Milton, Brisbane (the Brisbane city section is often called the Riverside Expressway) and covers about 158 kilometres (98 miles). The route uses M3 through Brisbane, then M1 from Eight Mile Plains to the NSW border, with the Tugun Bypass section passing under the Gold Coast Airport runway. Since 2013, the NSW–QLD border portion south of the border has been designated M1 Pacific Motorway. The road runs through the Gold Coast region, near major attractions, and carries eight lanes between Loganholme and Gaven, typically four to six lanes elsewhere, with speed limits of 100–110 km/h. The highest point is about 92 metres above sea level south of Brisbane.

History and development: The route began as the Pacific Highway (Main South Coast Road) with bridges and sealing added from the 1920s to the 1930s, and sealing completed by 1937. From the 1950s congestion led to duplication projects, finished by 1971. A freeway plan announced in 1965 eventually opened sections from the CBD to Greenslopes in 1973 and to Springwood by 1985. In 1996 the Beenleigh–Nerang section was upgraded to motorway standard, and in 2000 the South-East Freeway and the Springwood–Loganholme section were renamed the Pacific Motorway. NSW stages of the upgrade were completed over two decades, with the final Banora Point upgrade opening in 2012. The motorway includes two service centres (Stapylton southbound and Coomera northbound) with solar-powered facilities. Speed cameras operate at several interchanges, with point-to-point cameras introduced on parts of the route around 2013. The Tugun Bypass opened in 2008 to bypass Tugun, and the old Pacific Highway along the coast was renamed the Gold Coast Highway. In the Tweed River valley, the Cudgen Road Tunnel (opened in 2002) is part of the bypassed route near Banora Point.